


Planning for a Cat in your Household

by where_thewind_blows



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Actually happy everything, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cats, Animals, Cats, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, I wrote this cause we got a new kitten, M/M, Pepper Potts Is a Good Bro, Pets, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony loves cats, everyone gets along, not on purpose I found it under the porch and it hasn't left., possible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12883377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_thewind_blows/pseuds/where_thewind_blows
Summary: Question 7: If your cat developed a behavioral issue, what would you do?Trust me if the cat develops a behavioral problem bigger than the people it will be living with, then the cat will have more issues thananyonecan actually deal with.Whatever the behavior, we would contact our recommended veterinary or the shelter staff for assistance as needed, and follow advice to provide the best lifestyle for our pet.---Or the one where Tonylovesreally likes cats and Stevelovesreally,reallylikes Tony and does his best to show that.





	Planning for a Cat in your Household

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this when I really should be updating my other story or working on my podfics... but the idea just got stuck in my head and something that was suppose to be about 2K words turned into over 7K... so that happened. 
> 
> Anyway I just rescued a kitten from under my neighbors porch and they didn't want it so we took it in. I work with animals for a living and so was ready to find it a home... but then my mother named it and while I keep telling her Im not taking it with me when I find a new job she hasn't let me get rid of it. So there is that. Anyway I hope you enjoy this! Tony's spirit animal is a cat and you seriously cannot convince me otherwise. Please comment! I did this all myself so any mistake is my own!
> 
> NOTE: PLEASE never adopt an animal for a friend/family member without knowing that they want/are able to care for that animal. A lot of shelters actually won’t let you adopt an animal as a gift because it can become a problem. In this case Steve has a backup plan to his surprise (i.e. Pepper Potts) but it is still not recommended unless the individual is fully ready for the responsibility.

Steve had thought he had already convinced himself this was a good idea. After all he had done all the paperwork, bought all the supplies and even done as much possible research as one could do.

Even so, he couldn’t help rethinking the whole thing. Was he actually making the right call here?

He already knew the answer, in a moment he would build himself up and step through the door, damn the consequences if he was wrong. If there was one thing anyone knew about Steven Grant Rogers is that he was stubborn. 

However, just because he thought it was a good call, didn't mean that the other people in his family would. Sure, he had talked with Pepper Potts and she agreed it was a smart plan, but she was also a little biased about the whole thing. 

Though, Steve supposed, the whole idea really had started a while back after a giant grasshopper had tramped through New York, he just hadn’t realized it at the time. 

The Avengers had dealt the bug, which had not only had chirped so loudly it had cracked windows but had managed to smash several buildings, including a favorite coffee shop and an animal shelter. Lucky there has been minimal injury, human or animal, but the clean-up was immense since sticky cricket goop had ended up on everything. 

The team had congregated on the street while the police and medical squads surged around them. Coulson was giving directions for clean-up and, for once, all the Avengers where actually present. In fact, they were up a number since War-machine had been in New York and had joined them in squashing the threat, literally.  

"Barton, you Thor and Banner get back to medical, your covered in that stuff and I don't want to find out it was zoonotic or anything." It was true, Thor looked like he has been trying another once of those 'Hasks' Jane has sent. His hair was all gelled upwards like a bad 90’s style and Bruce was shivering, goop dripping from his nose. 

"Ah come on boss," Clint had grumbled, he too covered head to foot in the stuff after and impromptu face dive "we are fine, quick shower and some goo-be-gone and we are ready for Mario night!"  

The look Phil leveled at the man could have frozen lava. 

"Tasha can you head to 5th and make sure Fury isn't shitting a brick? Him and Maria were up there for a meeting." Natasha rolled her eyes at being made essentially a babysitter for the leader of their spy organization, but it was probably a good call. Fury got pissed when his shoes got dirty. 

"Stark can you try and find out where this thing came from? We still have no clues as to where-" 

"Hold that thought agent." Tony said suddenly and Steve looked to find him staring intently at something across the street. "Brb." 

"Stark!" Phil raised his voice a touch, betraying frustration under the mask of calm "what the hell?" 

Tony wasn't listening and had started to walk, Iron Man suit and all, across the street toward a group of people.

"Tony-" Steve started, a little concerned about the intensity of the man’s departure.    

"Oh god." Rhodes said the picture of exasperation, his fond eyes betraying his love for his best friend "he found a cat." 

This clarified nothing. Steve turned to the man confusion clear on his face "What?" 

Rhodes waved a hand through the air, a little odd with the stiffness of war-machines mental covers, "Don't worry about it Captain, he’s fine, just helping." 

This wasn’t a real enough explanation to actually help Steve understand but before he could open his mouth a voice called "Captain we could use your help over here!" And Steve has never been able to ignore that call. 

He didn't think about the moment till much later, after he had finally bucked up and (according to Clint) "put on the moves" and asked Tony out. 

Even then he didn't really register the significance.

Sure, he vaguely noticed that when they walked through the park hand in hand if a cat was nearby Tony's eyes would track it. But it was hardly on the radar it wasn't like Tony stopped walking or even talking.

And yeah Tony owned at least two shirts with cats on them and one shirt claiming "Animal Haven 2009 adoption party" that Steve had only ever seen Tony wear to bed. But really Tony also owned a shirt with a pineapple wearing sunglasses on it.

His excuses were wearing a little thin when he saw Tony playing with laser pointer and Dummy racing around the workshop, U and Butterfingers in the corners ready to pounce. Really though! That was just cute! Who was he to think there was something else behind it, especially if it was unintentional.

Steve really didn't connect the dots until Pepper Potts showed up at breakfast with a stack of papers she thumped down on the table. Steve raised this eyes at the pile (Stark industrials was well known to be relatively paper free). Steve had been worried he and Pepper wouldn’t get along, after all there was some history there, but lucky they had become pretty good friends. They both loved art and bonded over the dumb shit Tony Stark did. Pepper had actually been not only encouraging about Steve asking Tony out, about also helpful when it came to dealing with the man in question. A year since Steve had stuttered out an awkward “will you maybe get dinner with me” and Pepper and Steve had become pretty close, going to the MET and local art showings and even getting tea together, sometimes with Bruce.

“I know, I know.” Pepper groaned, and even when she was clearly at the end of her rope she still looked composed enough to be on camera “But after hours of screens my eyes need a break.”  

Steve nodded in understanding, even with the fancy reading ebook thing Tony had made, sometimes you needed a hard copy. Pouring some hot water into a mug and grabbing the box of English breakfast Steve walked over to the blonde and placed the items next to her stack, glancing at the papers as he did.

Each was sporting an adorable animal picture. That was… odd. Nine out of ten times Steve had no idea what Pepper was working on. Even after knowing her for three years he wasn’t totally convinced he knew what exactly it was that she did, but he was pretty sure there were no animals involved.

Pepper was gracefully stirring sugar into her tea, a gross combination Steve never did understand, and noticed him looking. She sighed, a familiar sound to Steve, one he knew followed some kind of ‘Tony Stark induced migraine’.

“I need to pick a charity for Stark Industries to donate too, it’s another year we focus on donating to an animal shelter.” 

“Oh,” he wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that, and to be honest it still didn’t explain exactly what Pepper was doing with her stacks of papers. Lucky Pepper seemed to understand from his less than intelligent response and continued:“If it was up to Tony he would throw as much money as possible to all the shelters in the US. But we can’t have Stark industries donating to one cause only. If Stark industries donates to all the charities of one type then we will be expected to do the same for every other type. Not only can we not do that, but really we don’t want to donate to every ‘charity’.” Peppers voice has a lilt on that last word. She continued “Besides I finally convicted him we can’t give money to every lost cat. Though he made me swear up and down I would pick the best one to donate too. I forbade him from picking after the 2006 debacle.”

“What-” Steve began, but apparently Pepper was in one of her rare ‘I need to just rant at the world because I can’ moods and she continued before he could finish.

“So, since the man only trusts like maybe eight people this is one of my tasks, even though I _should_ be dealing with the New Zealand merger. Really any other year he would be fine with someone from the correct department picking the charity but noooo when it’s the animal shelters it’s up to me.”

Steve was sure that he just wasn’t awake enough yet because Pepper wasn’t making sense, maybe he was just still tired from his run. He shook his head after a second and tried to ask his question again.

“What happened in 2006?”

Pepper glanced at him as she organized the stack of papers her voice was blank: “While drunk he donated a million dollars to Spunky’s Rescue Ranch because he saw a cute photo of a cat on their Facebook page.”

Steve processed that. Yup. Sounds like something he boyfriend would do. “Okay well that-”

“He then proceeded to tell the world about how every other shelter in the country was shit and called the ASPCA a ‘trash place with no cute cats’.”

He could also he Tony doing that.

“Ah- Yes, I could see how that could be a bit of a problem.”

Pepper sighed again as though reliving a particularly bad memory. Steve couldn’t help but smile, putting up with Tony Stark wasn’t a full-time job, it was a lifestyle. Pepper Potts really was a gift to the world.

Then Steve slow brain finally caught up with what they had been talking about

“Wait? Does this mean Tony likes cats?”

\---

It was kind of annoying that he was only just figuring all this out. Where had this useful information been two months ago when he had been trying to figure out a Christmas gift? Sure, he knew Tony loved the drawing of the bots Steve had made for him but Tony had tons of Steve’s drawings from even before they had started dating. It was just hard to shop for the man. It was a little cliché but really what did you get for a man who routinely bought things he wanted off the fly? It wasn’t like Tony ever pointed at something and went “I want like that.”, Or actually he did… but it was followed by an immediate purchase of the object and then about an hour examining whatever strange/shiny thing he had acquired.

Seriously the man was impossible to get things for. Knowing he liked something he hasn’t immediately bought himself would have been really helpful. It did, however, bring up the question: Why, if Tony liked cats and had the ability to donate millions to saving shelter cats, didn’t he just get one for himself. 

When they first met Steve might not have thought of Tony as someone who was capable of caring for another living thing. After all the man was shit at caring for himself. But Steve now knew better. He knew that Tony always checked on his bots (and screw you if you don’t think Dummy is alive) first thing when coming back from a mission or business trip and was always checking on their programing and if they were structurally sound. Tony was always updating and caring for his creations. Fixing Dummy’s wheel that was continuously loose and giving special attention to Butterfingers joint in her right site since it seemed to bother her. He was also always checking in on the people he cared about. Calling Rhodey to “bother” him whenever it was obvious the man might have had a bad day. Even Pepper, who Tony threw all his shit at, was constantly bother by Tony to see if she was ‘okay’. The rest? Tony would ever admit it, but he mothered the Avengers, checking on their supplies, having JARVIS plan for food, making sure they all were safe and comfortable.  Tony cared about his friends and is bots always making sure that his kids were cared for before bothering to even look at himself. So why then didn’t Tony just adopt a cat? 

Maybe Tony didn’t like cats as much as Steve was thinking he did. Maybe it was one of those things he liked but didn’t have any interest in owning himself… but that didn’t really sound like Tony.

So Steve started planning.

 ---

Part one of the plan was simple.

He started by asking Tony to grab dinner with him outside of the park. There was this awesome pizza place he knew so it was easy to tempt the man to go.  

Dinner went well, Steve asking his boyfriend about his latest project and then listening to the endless stream of words about SI being ridiculous and some deadline being pushed back and so and so being as useless as they always were.

It said something about how smitten Steve was that he had really was enthralled by Tony, even when he had absolutely no clue what the man was talking about.

After dinner Steve dragged Tony to the park, and to the area he knew a couple of cats hung out at.

“I mean _really_.” Tony was saying “Sometimes I really do forget why he hired the man. He has no idea what is going on seventy percent of the time. This is what I get for hiring someone from Yale, really what was I thinking-”

Steve nodded along to the torrent of words, squeezing Tony’s hand glancing around. He always saw that stupid cat over here… it would be the one day he wanted to see the damn thing that- 

“Pepper loves him though, something about charisma with the press. Really? We don’t need any more charisma, I have enough for the whole company!”

_There._

It was a tabby cat sitting in a patch of the setting sun. He was licking his paws and, as Steve watched, stretched up and arched its back. It clearly wasn’t in too bad shape. Steve was actually pretty sure it lived in one of the apartments nearby, it was just a little too fat to be a stray. But for his mission this would work perfectly 

“Who thought it was acceptable to put the TR136 into that piece of shit!” 

Steve casually walked closer to the animal. The piece of salami prepared in his right hand, his left still holding Tony closely. The cat had started to take interest in what was going on. Steve was trying to walk slowly as to not startle the animal and fast enough to not make Tony suspicious. It was much harder than he thought.

“Honestly, I’m going to need to talk with Ryan about this. We can’t have the whole department depending on that ass-”

Steve casually tossed the salami in the path when he was sure Tony wasn’t paying attention. He needn’t have worried; his boyfriend was happily gesticulating in the air about… something…

Steve slowed down pulling Tony next to him as the cat took halting steps towards the meat.

“Really Steve, if I didn’t double check on everyone…” Tony trailed off as the cat, deciding they were not a threat, sat down and began to eat the scrap right in front of the two men. Steve held his breath for what felt like hours (it was about three seconds) before saying:

“Cute cat.”

Tony gave him a quizzical look before turning back to the animal. Okay so maybe Steve could have been a bit subtler. But really, that had never been his thing. However, it seemed not to matter because as Tony turned back to the cat his eyes got a touch softer and the smallest smile curved his lips 

“Yeah, I mean they are all adorable little buggers.”

Bingo.

\---

Part two of the plan probably would have been much simpler if Steve hadn’t wanted the whole thing to be a surprise. Now that he was 90% sure Tony did indeed like cats, he just had to figure out why Tony didn’t get a cat himself.

 If he was being simple he could just point blank ask Tony why he didn’t have one, but Tony had surprised Steve with things so many times he really wanted to give one back. Just last week Tony had come bounding up the stairs with a new wax for Steve’s shield that would create greater bounce to oncoming objects.

 So, Steve didn’t want to outright ask, but he needed to find out if there was a specific (i.e. traumatic) reason Tony didn’t get himself a pet.

 Luckily fate seemed to be on his side, two days after part one he was in the workshop with Tony, sketching U as the bot posed in front of him (Steve always thought U cared the most about looks since the bot was always showing off different positions to Steve and always pointed the camera at Steve’s work in great joy).

 Butterfingers was trying to poke in behind U and the bot kept trying to subtly push the other one away, when suddenly there was a great crash from the work bench. Dummy was suddenly hurtling across the room, his wheel squeaking madly.

 “Dummy you idiot!! You are not a goddamn dog this isn’t a game of fetch you useless piece of springs!” Tony’s voice reverberated across the room that was suddenly filled was commotion.

Steve was unable to help himself as he laughed watching Tony snatch whatever it was from the bot before hurling himself on the couch next to Steve. Dummy rolling to the couch beeping excitingly and angling towards the screwdriver in Tony’s hand.

“Down! Down you bug!” Tony said leaning into Steve, his voice filled with mirth. Steve still chucking reach up and scratched at Dummy’s arm. Instantly the bot calmed letting out a soft whirr of contentment. 

Tony huffed “I swear he likes you better somedays.”

Steve’s grin widened still rubbing along Dummy’s joints. “Ah nah Tony you know that not true.”

Tony just huffed again and gave the bot a scathing look resting his chin in Steve shoulder. Dummy, clearing not minding his creators pout, leaned into Steve.

This was it, the perfect time.

“Did you have any pets growing up?” Steve asked, trying to keep his voice casual and firmly not looking in Tony’s direction. Steve usually knew better than to ask questions about Tony’s childhood.

He must have pulled it off though because Tony didn’t seem too phased by the question. “Nah, Howard would never let me get anything other than something mechanical, and usually those weren’t good enough anyways. My mom had some canaries when I was young. But they were more decoration I think.” He paused still watching Dummy “Jarvis’ wife Anna had a cat.”

Steve felt some exciting building up in his chest, the same he felt when he figured out the best strategy during a mission.

“A cat?”

“Yeah,” Tony had moved his head to rest on Steve’s shoulder “it was orange and super fat. Once I build this little wheelie thing for him to chase but he just stared at it before sitting on it when it was still. I tried a whole bunch of other ones too, but the damn animal just ignored them. It was pretty great though, always had someone to play with at Jarvis’s house.” Tony’s voice was fond holding none of the pain it usually did when talking about his youth.

Steve rested his head on Tony’s, his heart light.

\--- 

Now that he was confident that a cat was something Tony actually enjoyed, Steve moved onto part three: The other Avengers.

Steve was pretty sure that having a cat in the tower would not be too much of a problem. He had done some research on the care of cats, and even with missions and whatnot there should always been someone around to at least feed the animal. He was pretty sure none of the Avengers would mind. Actually, he was sure most of them would be thrilled with the idea. Clint lost his shit every time he saw any animal and Thor liked anything that was fluffy. Steve wasn’t sure about Bruce and Natasha, but he figured if anyone had a major problem they would keep the car in their suite. It was large enough for a dozen cats let alone one.

There was just one other person he really should ask.

“Jarvis,” Steve started, his voice hesitant as he sat in front of the computer screen “do you think-”

“An addition of a feline to the tower would not truly inconvenience me in any way. None of the occupants have any reported allergens to cats, and my data is in favor of sir owning an animal. I did indeed try to persuade him to get one in ’09 since research indicated having a pet can reduce stress and anxiety.”

Steve grinned up at the ceiling. He had long ago given up trying not to look and just accepted it was something he was going to do. “You know, when you start to answer my questions before I ask it just makes me believe you are closer to taking over the world than we all think.”

“Sir does often express this thought, though I think he would encourage the behavior.”

Steve laughed and glanced back at the computer screen as it reloaded before his eyes. Google was now showing a list of adoptable cats in New York.

“Really Jarvis, I am able to type these things myself.” Steve said reaching for the mouse anyway.

“I am aware Captain, just thought I would save you the trouble.”

\---  

Part four actually turned out to be the most challenging. Now that Steve was determined to get Tony a cat he realized he didn’t know when he was supposed to get him one. Did he wait for a holiday? A birthday? 

But it was the end of February and Steve was excited _now_. So, he decided fuck it, and with Jarvis’s help picked out the best shelter he could find and downloaded the application.

This was the tricky part. Steve had no idea what acceptable answers to an adoption form was. He didn’t want to lie… but he also did know how to answer questions like “What is the activity level in your home?” Did Bruce hulking out while playing Mario cart rate a 5? At home, it was probably like a 3 at most since Hulk was actually pretty calm, but he wasn’t sure if most people would see it that way.  

And “How much do you think it will cost you each month to provide the necessary medical care and to cover the costs of feeding and caring for this pet?” Steve honestly had no idea how much it would cost. Was it okay to put down “I really don’t know but no worries cause my BF is like the third richest guy in the world”?

He decided he needed help.

Steve would like to point out that he was absolutely not scared of Pepper Potts. Pepper had told him a hundred time he could bother her at any time about anything. Still Steve was a little embarrassed to knock on her door clutching a handful of paper’s regarding cat adoptions.

“Steve!” Pepper said smiling up at him from her desk, “what can I do for you?”

\---

So here he was waiting for the lovely lady with the purple scrubs covered in a fun dog pattern to come show him the “cat welcome room” and help him pick out an animal to suit his needs. Thank god for Pepper, Steve was pretty sure that if he had tried to give purple scrub lady his original forms he would have been banned from owning any animal ever.

Steve had to admit he was a little excited, he had never really thought about owning a pet himself. Back in the 40’s people were too worried about keeping themselves fed to worry about feeding a pet so it really hadn’t been a thought. Looking through the various cat photos online had been pretty fun and he might already be kind of attached to the one he had read about at this shelter. If the description of the animal was accurate he was pretty sure it would be the perfect addition to the weird little family Steve had made for himself.

“Okay!” Purple scrub lady came back into the room with a smile, “she is in a great mood this morning, which she usually is anyway. Right this way Mr. Rogers!”

Steve stood up and wiped his sweating hands on his pants and followed her to a bare room with a couple cluttered cages, all empty, and a metal chair. There were various things strewn about as you would expect to find somewhere slightly underfunded, like they just didn’t have time to clean this particular room very often. Steve took this all in quickly before his eyes zeroed in on the table, or rather what was beneath the table. A cat hammock (he had seen them on the internet during his research) was strung between the legs. Taking a couple steps forward Steve knelt next to the fabric swing to face the occupant.

The animal looked up a Steve its head in an upside-down position before making a soft curious sound.

Steve reached his hand out towards the cat and her leaned towards him.

 _Perfect_ he thought with a smile.

\---

Steve stood in the elevator bouncing on the balls of his feet, nervous with energy. Beside him the cat carrier sat on the floor, very still, its occupant clearly nervous about what was happening.

_Okay, you got this Steve, no need to be nervous. What’s the worst that could happen?_

The worst that could happen was that he miscalculated seriously and Tony didn’t want a cat and Steve had just fucked up royalty. Sure, Tony would probably think it was funny but still this would just show how much Steve didn’t know his boyfriend and he did love Tony and didn’t want Tony to think he didn’t know him well. Honestly what if he thought Steve was just some idiot? He worried about that enough as it was this would just confirm-

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. Steve stood looking out into the elevator lobby of the penthouse. 

“Sir is in the sitting room” JARVIS said helpfully when Steve hadn’t made any move to exit.

“Right.” Steve said putting on his best ‘I’ve got this’ Captain America face and exiting the elevator.

“Captain…” JARVIS began, his voice containing a certain judgement that Steve never would have thought a robot could have before he met one Tony Stark. 

“Right.” Steve said spinning on his heel back to the elevator and grabbing the cat carrier up.

JARVIS didn’t add anything but Steve swore he feel the silent (static?) judgement.

The sitting room, which if they were being honest was more Tony’s secondary office than anything, was bathed in blue light as he approached the entry. The room had several comfy chairs and a couch with a large ‘coffee table’ in front of it.

Steve was often hesitant to call it a coffee table (even if Tony insisted it was) since it was basically a large clear screen that Tony’s blue holograms jumped across. In fact, Steve was pretty sure it was not encouraged to actually put coffee on it... though Tony often broke his own rules.

As he was now.  

The genius behind stark industries, twice voted top bachelor, graduate of MIT at age 18, motherfucking _IRON MAN_ , was currently sprawled out across his “coffee table” flat on his back his hand raised above him, moving holographs around in an order that to Steve looks random but probably had some purpose. Then again Tony usually migrated to his sitting room when he had reached the “too tired to actually use a smoldering iron but brain still awake enough the need to create is taking over all other senses.” This fact was confirmed by the three coffee mugs sitting beside him.

Steve couldn’t help the soft smile that crosses his face as he takes in his boyfriend. He places the carrier carefully on a side table, his focus for a moment captured by the scene in front of him.

Tony hasn’t noticed him enter and now that Steve is close enough he can hear Tony talking softly to himself as he flings data sets through the air. From what he can make out as the images fly by his face it looks like some form of bulletproof fabric. As Tony pull up a new screen Steve reaches out and snags the image tossing it over his shoulder and leaning over the billionaire.

Tony blinks refocusing (and damn it’s so good that he doesn’t freak out anymore when Steve startles him) before smiling up at Steve, his eyes crinkling for a moment before pouting.

“Steevvveee I was working on that.” Tony’s eyes were shining as he spoke the brown of his eyes soft in the low light.

Grinning down Steve leaned over and pecked Tony’s lips before pulling back. Tony pouted up at him reaching to pull him back down but Steve pulled away laughing “How long have you been up?”

Tony smirked up at him. He didn’t look _that_ exhausted, the dark smuggest under his eyes hadn’t reached the ‘dark of the night’ stage and he seemed pretty coherent “Only about 17 hours, why you have a hot date planned?”

Which abruptly reminded Steve exactly what he did have planned. And oh fuck- Tony was relaxed and happy and- shit this was a bad plan. He never should have done this.

Tony must have noticed the absolute terror cross his face because he went instantly from relaxed to high alert, sitting up and whacking his face into Steve’s chest.

“Ow!” Tony gripped his head with one hand and grabbed Steve’s shoulder with the other “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Of course, Steve’s immediate reaction when Tony panicked was to become as calm as possible.

“No! No.” He said gripping Tony’s hand on his shoulder and using his other hand to rub his thumb across over the other man’s forehead where he had brained himself. “Nothing’s wrong! I-I just-” He glanced at the carrier which was very still on the table “I got you a gift.”

“Oh.” Tony said letting his head thump back down against the table. “That’s fine then, that’s-” Almost immediately Tony sat back up looking at Steve in surprise “You got me something?” He said it with such a vulnerability and caution that Steve’s heart lurched and the small vengeful side of his wanted to punch anyone who had ever made Tony look like that.

“You didn’t have to!” Tony was rambling now, “It’s not like I get you things that are great anyway and – oh god! Did I forget something! Is it your birthday! Wait no I know that one it’s the 4th. Oh jesus. Is it our anniversary? Steve why didn’t you say-”

Steve covered his mouth before he could really get himself going, an involuntary smile curling his lips. Tony froze looking up at him mild panic still crossing his face. “No, it’s nothing like that.” Steve said unable to help the nerves from coming through in his voice “Really, I just thought… well if you don’t like it its totally fine. I talked to them and they said that if needed it would be okay that I bring it back, it just kinda frowned upon you know? I think Pepper would-”

Okay so now he was rambling. Great. It seemed to work though because Tony was looking much calmer as he pulled away from Steve’s hand and glanced around the room, clearly looking for the source of Steve’s flustered state. It was obvious the moment he saw the box. His whole body went tense and his breathe hissed. Shit.

Steve opened his mouth to apologize. Damn it! This was why he shouldn’t try to get gifts! He should stick to what he knows. Drawings and Coffee beans. Fuckidy, fuck, fuck.

“ _Merow_?”

It was so soft that they wouldn’t have caught it if they hadn’t been both focusing so hard on the box.

“Steve, what?”

“ _Meow”_

“Uhhh” Steve honestly had no idea what to say at this point. Tony hadn’t taken his wide eyes away from the table staring like he could see through walls.

“Sir’s I believe she wants to come out” JARVIS said his calm voice breaking the overwhelming panic Steve was feeling.

As if JARVIS voice broke the trance Tony slowly reached for the silver door and released the catch.

It swung open slowly, the door banging lightly on its hinges before settling about halfway open. The two men started at it.

“ _Mow?_ ” a small face peered out from around the metal door a pink noise sniffing the air questionably.  

Then, as in the way all cats are, she completely ignored the two occupants staring at her and jumped onto the couch sniffing along the cushions.

“Uhh” Steve repeated his vocabulary skills seemed to have diminished greatly over the past three minutes.

“Steve…” Tony said slowly “Did, did you get me a cat?”

“Umm” The cat jumped onto the coffee table and started batting at the blue holographs. Clearly it was unperturbed by the new location.

Tony had turned to look from the cat at Steve. He had that unreadable expression that Steve had seem him use during uncomfortable encounters with members of congress, and Happy Hogan when he was pissed.

It automatically snapped Steve from stuttering, to completely unintelligible.

“Itwasjusthat,youseemedtolikethemandIaskedPepperandevenyouandtheredidntseemtobeaproblemfortheothersandyoudidntsaythatyoudidntlikecatsexactlyIknowyouneversaidyoudidlikethemeitherbutitkindaseemedlikeyoudidsoIaskedJARVIS,orratherIguesshekindaknewanditjusthappenedPepperhelpedwiththepaperworkedandeverything,butreallyifIwaswrongitsfinewecan-”

“You got me a cat.” Tony interrupted his face still blank. Watching as the animal roamed around the room. She was quite a pretty cat, calico, the shelter called her, but she had mostly white on her legs and chest and her green eyes glowing slightly as she peered around the room in curiosity.

Steve took a breath. “Yeah, I. Yeah. Do you like her?”

Tony stared at him, opened his mouth to stay something when he suddenly paused looking down at his hand. The cat had jumped onto the couch he was standing beside and was now sniffing at him questioningly. When Tony didn’t make a move, she proceeded to rub her face along the lines of his fingers.  

Very slowly Tony sat on the couch his focus now on the cat as she placed her paws on his leg and sniffed at his shirt. Steve felt his lips quirk at the sight, his heart slowing its frantic speed as we watched the two interact.

Looking up, Tony’s eyes met Steve’s. An expression was waring on his face, the stone melting to a look Steve has seen before, the fear and helplessness that usually wasn’t allowed. It was that expression he got when he had first seen Steve’s drawings of him. The one he wore when Steve complimented him or showed him all ways that he loved him. The one that said “I don’t deserve this, I don’t deserve you, I’m not good enough or moral enough and you shouldn’t bother with me.” It was a look Steve hated, but at least he was on more familiar territory. He knew that Tony hated parts of himself, he was the most narcissistic yet self-flagellating person Steve knew. Steve was determined to show him that he loved him anyway, this seemed to be along the right lines.

“You got me a cat.”

Steve sank onto the other end of the couch. The cat was now stretching up and sniffing at Tony’s beard. Tony’s hands hadn’t moved.

“If you don’t like her we can bring her back.” Steve said feeling on stronger footing now.

“What! No! She’s mine!” Tony’s hands instantly curled around the animal broken from his previous trance. Tony’s attention was now on the cat’s head, he moved slowly too not scare her as he petted. He was looking at her with sheer wonder, like he couldn’t imagine anyone would actually do something for him.

Steve reached out, slowing petting the cat and letting his other hand squeeze Tony’s fingers where they were hovering over the fur.

“Yeah?” Steve asked his voice soft.

Tony looked up at him, that vulnerable expression back for a moment before he broke into a real genuine smile. Not the ‘Anthony Stark ready for the press’ grin, this smile that was all _Tony_.

\----

“How did you know?” Tony asked an hour later. Watching the cat play on the floor. Steve had been prepared and once the cat seemed to be there to stay he had pulled out a bag filled with cat supplies. Currently she was tossing around a bright pink jingling mouse. Steve had been thrilled with she had started playing “fetch” with them bringing her toys over to them to throw. She had settled in alarmingly well, but the girls at the shelter did think she would be okay in a new place.

Steve shrugged looking over at his boyfriend “I’m Captain America.”

Tony made a face at that, Steve grinned and leaned over for a kiss.

“Yeah, yeah.” Tony rolled his eyes and giving Steve’s lips a peck. “You know adopting a cat together is kinda a big deal, right?” That note of hesitancy was back and Steve heard the ‘are you sure you want to take that step with me?’ between the words.

“Well we already adopted a god and two super spies, not sure how a cat could be much worse.” Steve shrugged, it worked and Tony smiled again.

“What about Bruce? We didn’t adopt him?”

“I’m pretty sure of all of us Bruce is sanest, which is saying something since he turns into a giant green rage monster who likes ‘Family Guy’.”

Tony laughed worries, for the moment, gone.

“So,” Steve murmured at Tony leaned back into him “the shelter was calling her Mia but we can change her name if you want?”

“Hmmm.” Tony thought his eyes tracking the cat as she abandoned her mouse to jump up next to Steve and head-butt his shoulder. “How about-”

“But Pepper told me she had veto power over anything you choose.” 

“What! Why?” Tony said looking at Steve upside-down with a frown.

“Tony.” Steve’s laugh was fond “You named one of your bots U.”

“So?”

“When I asked you how to spell his name you said quote ‘literally the letter U Steve! No 'O' no 'Y' just 'U’.” The photo that Steve had labeled ‘U’ was a favorite and was hung next to the ones of the other bots in the workshop.

“And I told you that U is a perfectly acceptable name. Besides U doesn’t have a problem with it!” Tony was a little indignant as he spoke crossing his arms before quickly uncrossing them to give the cat a pet as she wandered by.

“I’m just relaying what Pepper told me.” Steve laughed nuzzling into Tony’s hair.

“Well I was going to give her at least a three-letter name anyway.” He sniffed

“You don’t have to think of something right away. We can wait and see what fits her.”

“Oh no.” Tony said, his voice very firm “We need to think of something before bird-brain meets her. He will call her something like “Mrs. Fuzzy Bottom” and it will stick and then we will have a cat with a ridiculous name. He is already going to be obsessed with her because of the whole hearing thing.”

“Hey,” Steve objected “They told me she has no trouble hearing, they have noticed no adverse behavior from the-”

“Steve, you got me a cat with one ear.”

“She has two ears! One is just missing the top.”

Tony rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to the cat. She had sitting on his chest now carefully sniffing the Arc Reactor seemingly intrigued. As they both watched she brought a paw out and batted carefully at the light. Tony scratched her head.

“It’s just,” Steve began watching Tony grin “Well no one shouldn’t have a home just ‘cause they aren’t perfect.”

“Oh my god.” Tony groaned, and would have surly added movement if he wasn’t worried about disturbing the cat “You are such a sap.”

“You love it.” Steve said smiling down at him.

Tony looked up carefully, “Yeah,” his voice nervous “I do.”

Steve started down at him, his heart beating a bit faster than a second ago. It wasn’t often they told each other that phrase. They both had their own problems and often found themselves finding other ways to express that love. This was a moment though, this was an important moment. He opened his mouth to say… something when he was interrupted by a soft sound.

“Steve.” Tony’s voice was filled with a wonderful joy “Steve she’s _purring_.”

The cat was now sitting fully on Tony, half on the Arc Reactor, happy as the proverbial clam the soft sound growing louder.

Tony cooed rubbing his fingers atop her head and whispering to her about all the things he was going to make her.

Steve smiled. There would be other important moments. Plus anyway, this one was perfect just the way it was.

Planning for a Cat: Mission Success.

 

  

**Author's Note:**

> Additions
> 
> Tony names the cat Bea after Beatrice Shilling. Pepper approves.
> 
> Bea follows Tony and Steve around like a small shadow whenever she can. Mostly Tony, Steve swears he just must naturally smell like cat nip or something (Tony has a theory it’s the vibranium).
> 
> She learns how to use the elevators on day three. JARVIS now is tasked with ‘cat herding’ to keep her from going anywhere other than the penthouse and the avenger’s quarters.
> 
> Bea is loved by everyone. Clint is obsessed and they play in the vents causing great commotion wherever they go. Thor is fascinated by the creature and in turn Bea is fascinated by Thor’s hair, on movie nights Bea will sit on the back of the chair, or couch, and bat at the golden locks with Thor beaming the entire time. Natasha is the only one Bea will actually listen to, the moment she makes to shred the cushions a simple “no” from the spy with send the cat running, but she still comes to Natasha for the occasional ear scratch or treat (which somehow Natasha always has). Bruce doesn’t seem like much of an animal person, but really doesn’t get a choice since Bea is determined to befriend everyone. She sits on his lap during movies and on the counter next to him during breakfast. It becomes almost second thought for the scientist to pay attention to her the moment she demands it.
> 
> Bea is not allowed in the workshop, but she is allowed to cuddle up under the blankets with Steve and Tony at night. She loves the Arc Reactor and is constantly patting at the surface.
> 
> Tony gets her a little turquois collar with “small safely measures” build in. He tells Steve about the GPS but Steve later sees some blueprints that look suspiciously like some kind of emergency energy shield…
> 
> Eventually Steve confesses about his “plan” for getting a cat. Tony finds the whole thing hysterical but kisses him anyway. Steve is already panicking about his next plan, the ‘M’ word is a big one, and he isn’t ready quite yet… but no reason not to do some research.
> 
> — 
> 
> Let me know what you think! I’m thinking about maybe adding another oneshot about life with Bea if people liked this one


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